Breaking the Pattern
by Apocalypsefantasy
Summary: AU Higarashi Kagome, the richest girl in Japan is trapped in her own life by her painful past and her duty to protect the Shikon no Tama. Of course that's easier said than done when Takahashi Inuyasha is on your tail and your past is catching up to you faster than you you can outrun it. Rated for language and violence.
1. Dull Assignment

XXXXXXXXX

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, I'm just a fan who likes to mess with him.

Author's note: This is the new and improved Breaking the Pattern, after much editing this story is nearly unrecognizable however the idea was still inspired by Kiara's Falling For the First Time, though takes the idea in an entirely different direction she still deserves credit. Without further ado…

XXXXXXXX

Breaking the Pattern

Chapter 1 Dull Assignment

XXXXXXXX

Amid the frivolity she didn't let her bored state show, smiling her too bright-and completely fake-trademark smile at everyone who approached her, laughing when appropriate and kindly answering any questions, offering compliments when they were wanted; she was the perfect diplomat, the perfect teenager, the perfect heiress, the perfect liar. This was the routine she had become accustom to, smile, laugh, compliment, talk, smile, laugh, compliment, talk. How repetitive her life had become, how false, she cursed the man that had started the worst of her problems and the thing he was after, it was with her always, an ever present reminder of her burden, her duty and the price of her powers.

Cutting off the babbling nobleman before her with a smile Kagome excused herself, leaving the masses of finely dressed snobs in favor of the solitude of the women's washroom. A fully furnished restroom, complete with vanity mirrors, a full stock of makeup that would make Paris Hilton jealous, coffee table loaded with magazines and books, and several overstuffed, rather frilly couches and chairs, was yet another testament to how stiflingly boring her life had become. At least the place was deserted, not a single person trying to 'powder their nose' was to be seen.

Throwing herself into the nearest chair in as unlady-like fashion as possible, she sighed heavily proceeding to put her feet up on the spotless table top. When she glanced in the mirror she hardly recognized herself. She hated makeup, yet there it was plastered over her face like a mask, she hated high heels, yet strapped to her feet and currently scuffing up the table were powder pink mini-silts, she hadn't always hated pink but she did now, she hated the stupid pink dress that matched perfectly with the stupid pink shoes. She hated being trapped and restrained a bird in a cage but that was her name, her duty, and she had accepted that fate, however grudgingly.

Most of all though, she hated the rich, those snobs who used money to buy their lives, and still had extra to use as kindling. She hated wealthy people she really did, but she supposed that made her a hypocrite, being as she was one of the richest people in Japan. '_Yeah_,' she thought at the irony, _'being the richest seventeen year old in Japan really sucks; Higarashi Kagome ladies and gentleman the unwilling angel.'_ Kagome was completely aware of the absurdity of the thought, there were people in need suffering from the lack of what she had such an abundance of, so she never complained, not out loud, not to anyone, and that was the lock that kept Kagome in her cage, that lock that was of her own creation: isolation.

XXXX

"Hah, beat ya again you baka wolf!" The silver-haired inu hanyou gloated, as he pinned his unfortunate sparring partner to the mat.

"Not a chance mutt-face," his opponent argued, punching him square in the gut, causing the hanyou to pause as the breath was knocked out of him, the momentarily stillness allowing an opportunity at which the wolf youkai was able to return to his feet. The dark-haired youkai glared down triumphantly at the hanyou, that is, until his legs were pulled out from under him and a fist connected to his jaw.

And so the fight continued in a fray of claws, limbs, fangs and trash talk, but mostly trash talk. The two were so busy trying to beat the crap out of the other neither noticed their stone faced 'boss' enter the training room, his toad-like assistant trailing behind.

"Enough." The newcomer ordered calmly as the two sparring charged at one another yet again claws bared and eyes focused. When neither so much as paused in their assault, he raised his voice ever so slightly, though not giving up his icy calm tone. "Inuyasha, Kouga, enough." The latter halted, fighting against his forward momentum as he recognized the man's authority, but Inuyasha didn't so much as hesitate in his attack, bringing a hard fist to the stationary wolf's nose.

Said youkai dropped, spitting blood out as his nose gushed red down his chin, and growling at the hanyou who was now doing a rather childish victory dance, yelling something about being the still undefeated champion.

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his younger half-brother's antics, and deciding to just get to the point, Sesshomaru let his next words get the inu hanyou's attention like no amount of lecturing and orders ever would. "Inuyasha I have a new assignment for you." As he knew it would this statement stopped Inuyasha in his tracks, as the hanyou turned to him, thinly veiled anticipation in his golden eyes. The inu no tashio smiled inwardly, his outer facade remained stony; this was why he would entrust Inuyasha with this particular assignment.

"What is it this time Sesshy, a bank, a collector, some old lady?" Sesshomaru knew the young half-demon was reverting to his favorite game, let's-see-how-far-I-can-piss-off-Sesshomaru-before-he-snaps, but his next plea was genuine, "Come on gimme a challenge already I haven't had a good brawl in ages." Inuyasha threw a significant glance at Kouga, who was resetting his nose, to emphasize his point.

"Very well, come." Was his only reply and he turned expecting his younger brother to follow. Shrugging at Kouga, who returned the gesture and stood to indicate it was the hanyou's call, Inuyasha went to receive his next assignment, though just to spite his brother the hanyou took his sweet time about it.

"Jaken, clean up this mess." Ordered the taisho, as he retreated the room, Inuyasha and Kouga behind him.

"Of course Sesshomaru-sama." The small green imp standing in his shadow hastened nervously to obey. The youkai bowed repeatedly and began mopping up the flecks and pools of blood spread across the training mat.

XXXX

When the two arrived in Seshomaru's office, Kouga having been dismissed to clean himself up, Inuyasha fell lazily into the chair opposite Sesshomaru's. "So Sesshy, what's my next target, another museum? That last job was a joke nothing but cameras and foot work." he complained putting up his bare and always filthy feet on the tidy office desk.

Despite his nonchalance Sesshomaru knew that his brother was itching for a fight, and he said as much "Obviously your little display downstairs with Kouga proved that, drawing blood." They might always be at each other's throats but they only fought for blood when both of them majorly needed to blow off some steam. "Perhaps this with keep you occupied."

Inuyasha watched as Sesshomaru withdrew a thick file from amongst the piles covering his orderly desk with ease, sliding it towards Inuyasha's upraised feet. The younger of the two raised an eyebrow at its density, only receiving a nod from his older brother to indicate he should open it, so he did.

Within the sturdy manila cover was enough background information to publish an in depth biography on a single teenage girl. He looked at the profile picture, she was pretty, sure, but what did she have to do with his assignment? "What's this?" He might be thief and occasionally an assassin but killing teenage girls wasn't really his style, he preferred taking out drug lords and wayward demons.

Sesshomaru almost chuckled at his brother's 'what the fuck' expression, almost. "She is guarding your target, get close to her to obtain said target, specifics are in the file." It was a clear dismissal. Inuyasha rose in a deliberately slow manner, flipping through the file as he went, stopping as he read the name of his target's supposed guardian.

"You've got to be kidding me; you want me to steal from _her_!" Sighing inwardly Sesshomaru raised his stony gaze to the hanyou, he had known this was coming, but he had also hoped his usually daft brother would have made it out of the office before he noticed who he was targeting.

"You said you wished for a challenge, this Sesshomaru has provided such." It was as close to a joke as the Inu no Tashio would speak, but Inuyasha saw that his brother was serious as always.

Knowing that was the only answer he would get, Inuyasha turned and trudged through the office door, grumbling as he went. The name printed neatly in the file burned in his mind. The single richest girl in Japan: HIGARASHI KAGOME. _'This might be interesting,'_ he thought as he looked again at the pictures of the young woman; in every one of them her dark hair was held tightly at the back of her head her posture rigid and controlled, the smile on her face was identical in every one and her eyes held depths of secrets to be unlocked, _'yes this could fun.'_

XXXXXXXX

"Isn't this fun?" Whispered a familiarly sarcastic voice in her ear. Taken off guard Kagome nearly fell off her plushy chair. "A bit out of it huh?" The voice was obviously suppressing a giggle.

Glaring up at the girl who had dared interrupt her escape from the torture of the aristocrats outside the door Kagome hissed, "Sango don't _do_ that." She stood up trying to straighten out the wrinkles from her lavish dress and rub the sleep from her eyes- not that she would ever sleep at a such an important social event of course, at least important to some, she herself had no idea what this gathering was for in the first place.

Sango hid a smile and, eyeing the hem of Kagome's dress, "Forgetting something Kags?" Blinking in confusion Kagome followed her friend's gaze and caught sight of what had Sango's eyes glinting teasingly; her bare toes were peeking out from underneath the pink skirt the powder-pink slits abandoned and viciously kicked under the coffee table, in Kagome's opinion the evil things were lucky she didn't take a katana to them, she momentarily entertained the thought of trying to purify them, but figured that spiritual powers would do little damage to inanimate objects, no matter how evil and feet-killing. Recalling protocol she blushed and grabbed for them. "Feet hurting?" Another glare. "Hey don't give me that look no wonder your feet hurt those things look like death traps."

"What do you want Sango?" She deadpanned embarrassed at having been found ditching the political chit-chat.

Unaffected by her friend's less-than-welcoming greeting she plopped down on the sofa opposite the chair Kagome had been occupying. "Same thing as you; escaping the finely dressed robots. Besides I'm only here because of you anyway, like I'm gonna torture myself without you." Reaching down to her calve high boots Sango unbuckled a subtle clasp hidden in the leather and withdrew a miniature set of. "Cards?" she offered holding the deck out to Kagome.

Smiling, for real this time, Kagome reseated herself across Sango on an overstuffed loveseat, replacing her feet on the table and chucking aside the mini-slits yet again. She took the deck and expertly began shuffling, "You are so on."

XXXX

In the shadier part of the Tokyo district a well-known and disrespected businessman sat in his office two subordinates facing his desk, another standing silently in the corner with a mirror in hand, its image reflecting two young women playing cards. "So the dogs are after my prize." Shadows played across the room casting a sinister light onto the businessman, not he needed help in the sinister department as it was.

"It appears that way, yes." Said the tallest one, his dark hair tied back loosely behind his slightly pointed ears.

"Inuyasha has been put on her case." Said the shorter albino boy, relishing the thought of the youngest dog prince chasing his own tail, figuratively thinking off course. Though if they planed according perhaps not so figurative after all.

The boss man spun around in his chair, plucking an eight by eleven picture from the inner pocket of his bamboo lined jacket, he rose to his feet drifting out from behind his desk and across the room as if floating on air. Deliberately he raised the picture level with the wall and with a flash of fleshy green pinned it there with the piece of tentacle connected to his finger. It broke off easily leaving the image of a seventeen year old girl hanging from his office wall. "I suppose that means we'll have to speed up our plans." His smile sent shivers of discomfort down the spines of his servants. "Hakudoshi, I think it's time to send our friend another _invitation._" The word came out like oil on his tongue.

"My lord," said the dark haired one, "Now that the House of the West is targeting her, she is bound to be more cautious and Inuyasha is not known for his stealth, this could interfere with your plans."

A sickening smile plastering his face the baboon pelted man caressed the photograph on his wall, feral hunger glinting in his eyes as he's thumb traced down the line of the image's jaw, "Kukukuku well that just won't do, will it my Kikyou?"

XXXX


	2. Routine

Disclaimer: I've said it before lawyers are idiots if they fool themselves into thinking I own Inuyasha and if so I don't ever want one on my side.

XXXX

Breaking the Pattern

Chapter 2 Routine

XXXX

_Great I have to somehow steal from the Higarashi family not only that but from _the_ Higarashi. _Inuyasha's bitter thoughts whirled around in his head, he had no problem with stealing from or assassinating those who deserved it but the Higarashi family was famous, well known for being charitable and loving not shady or cruel or even a little dodgy, stealing from them and especially _her_ seemed wrong somehow and did not at all sit well with him. _Well at least I got plenty of background info_ Inuyasha glanced loathingly at the now disheveled file on Kagome Higarashi which he held in one clawed hand_, not that it'll help much._ He'd skimmed (okay riffled) through the entire file twice on the way to his rooms without finding anything that would be considered worth stealing._ What's this girl got that Sesshomaru would want, sure she's rich but Sesshy has very specific tastes. Oh well. _Inuyasha dismissed his thoughts opening his bedroom door and tossing the Higarashi file onto the cluttered desk turned coat rack that took up the corner.

Heading to the adjoining bathroom Inuyasha stripped off his sweaty t-shirt, deciding to burn it later rather than live with the stench of wolf, it went into the overflowing hamper with the rest of the clothes intended for the stacks; it'd been a while since he'd actually done any laundry, or burning. While turning on the hot water and waiting for it to heat Inuyasha returned to the main room. (Okay so his bedroom was more of a five-star apartment complete with kitchen, office space, and living room, yeah it would be pretty sweet if it wasn't in the same building as Sesshomaru's business, yup, that was a downer.)

Reaching for a cup of instant ramen he turned on the stove and went to the now steamy shower before the kettle whistled. _So Kagome Higarashi huh? I guess I'll be seeing you soon._

XXXX

"Kagome!" A sweet voice sang attempting to wake the girl who insisted on sleeping in until noon. When no reply came the woman went to wake her adoptive grandson, the only one capable of waking his adoptive mother.

Pushing open the door to the young boy's room, she sighed softly when she saw the empty bed. Shaking her head Mrs. Higarashi headed back downstairs to the one person she knew would be awake.

"Morning Mom!" Souta smiled knowingly at his mother as she returned to the kitchen after the normal morning routine, Sundays were always the worst.

"Good morning Souta, Jii-chan," Gendou Higurashi gave a grunt of acknowledgement as he continued reading the paper, "have either of you seen Shippou?" Mrs. Higarashi asked the usual question, starting to toss together breakfast. Souta merely raised an eyebrow as if to say 'where else?' His mother understood as always, "could you go wake them please?" Chuckling Souta nodded heading up to his sister's room, toast in hand. It was after all the little brother's job to both admire and irritate his older sister, and nothing annoyed Kagome more than getting up on a Sunday.

As expected his log of a sister was still out cold with the tiny red haired kitsune curled under her arm, seeking warmth from the young woman. He walked over the plush pink carpet to gently tug on the orange tail of the fox youkai. Shippou yelped in response, leaping out from under Kagome's arm and landing lightly on her stomach as he snatched the sensitive appendage away from Souta. His growl subsided and his glare softened to a pout when he saw who stood there smiling lightly down at him and his 'mother'.

"Morning Shippou" Souta chuckled, "mind waking up that lump you're sitting on." He said pointedly looking at the still sleeping girl, she hadn't even budged.

With a yawn the kit nodded prodding the young women between two ribs. The girl who had been poked groaned sleepily rolling on her side toward the direction of the offending kit, who, wise from experience, jumped out of the way and into Souta's waiting arms. Kagome continued to roll, right off the edge of the bed, landing on her backside with a dull thud.

Mrs. Higarashi smiled at the sound, as light-hearted argument ensued the murmur of voices drifting down the stairs, only to be halted as the door bell chimed. Still smiling, at the squawking above as all three children fought to make it down the stairs and to the door, Mrs. Higarashi called to the young woman she knew was waiting behind the door. "Come on in Sango she's just getting up."

The door swung open revealing a young woman with dark brown hair and eyes shadowed by heavy magenta mascara. "Good morning Mrs. Higarashi!" she chirped happily, letting herself in and sitting comfortably in a free chair, just as always a plate was set before Sango almost the instant she was seated. Right on cue Kagome bounded down the steps Shippou in her arms and Souta in tow.

Raising the usual eyebrow, Sango gave her the usual questioning stare. To which Kagome sighed and took a seat next to her, pulling her own breakfast plate toward her. Mrs. Higarashi smiled at the familiar routine this was her favorite part of the day when everyone was still light and care-free, before Kagome pulled away and reverted back to her public persona.

The two teenagers were arguing lightly about how dense Kagome was in the morning, Shippou was naturally joining in putting his two cents worth in both defending and berating his adoptive mother for her sleeping habits, which of course turned the attention to his habit of sneaking into her bed at night.

Okay quick recount, Kagome, arguing with Shippou and Sango, Shippou in Kagome's lap and Sango to her right, Souta shoveling food into his mouth as Grandpa Higarashi went on one of his famous lectures of historical significance, and Mrs. Higarashi watching them all with a smile as she continued to fry bacon. Pretty ordinary Sunday, right? A family living in their shrine eating a late breakfast together with close friends, yeah it would have been normal, if not for the fact that Kagome's manager burst through the door (without knocking) at that very moment.

"Darling!" the woman exclaimed rushing foreword to kiss Kagome on either cheek, not bothering to close the door behind her. Holding Kagome, who's expression had blanked, at arms length she chastised "Vhy are vou no dressed, ve 'ave busy schedule tovay, 'urry and change I vill vait." Kagome's mother sighed inwardly, she sounded French or maybe German, though they all knew the accent was fake, as a mother Mrs. Higarashi couldn't help but dislike her daughter's 'manager' especially considering how she always managed to turn Kagome into her own life-sized stone Barbie doll.

_Sweetheart why do you do this to yourself? You hate that game, I can see it, just fire her honey. _No she couldn't say that, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't, Kagome would make her own choice, if she could handle being the richest teen in Japan and the other responsibilities she was forced to bare, then she could handle the stinking manager that came with it. Besides she'd already been down that road and had long accepted her daughter was simply too noble to escape what she hated when it meant putting others in danger.

Fake smile firmly in place Mrs. Higarashi turned to face the new arrival. "Cecile, lovely to see you." The same lie every morning, "come eat, there's plenty to go around." As expected the offer was refused, rather rudely with a scoff, as Mrs. Higarashi watched her daughter rise from the table and silently head back upstairs to change. Both Sango and Shippou followed after her, the former pausing to send a deadly glare in Cecile's direction, the latter suppressing the urge, with difficulty, to stick out his tongue.

It wouldn't hurt if she meddled a little would it? _Forget it; it's for the good of my daughter, as a mother I'd be remiss if I didn't meddle, it's my right._ "You know…" Mrs. Higarashi started planning carefully what to say, "Kagome hasn't stayed home for a while, and with Sango here, I think she would appreciate a day off." Trying to sound casual wasn't working too well, her voice sounded devious and her manners forced even to her own ears.

Cecile scoffed "She es celebrity, vhy vould she vant a day off?" Not waiting for an answer the 'French' woman continued. "Besizes her vittle friend can come along too, after all if she es to be attending zhese events too she vill need zhe proper attire." The perfect solution in Cecile's mind, if Sango was with them the less she'd have to talk with her so called employer.

Again, Mrs. Higarashi sighed to herself, _Well at least Sango will be with her._ It was a small condolence but at least it was something.

XXXXXXXX

At near noon Inuyasha was sitting with a bowl of ramen reading the Higarashi file. _Man this girl's busy, and always surrounded by people, at least meeting her won't be too difficult. _

He had almost finished reading her personal records, the last of which was her school report. _All A's damn, is this girl even human, no one's this damn perfect. Goes to a private school, wait isn't this one of those specialty schools for 'gifted' teens? Huh, that's new; she's not a demon that's for sure so she's either a priestess or a slayer. I'm betting priestess, makes sense if the girl lives at a shrine._

As he turned the page a single slip of paper fell into his lap, he had a sneaking suspicion of what it was, it would be just like Sesshy to pull that trick and he was right. _Damn brother makin' me go to school._ It didn't really bother Inuyasha that much, in all his time working with Sesshomaru he'd been in and out of school systems on missions and had never stuck around longer than a month, he just wouldn't pay attention in class and hey it would get him out of the training room for a while, but since it was Sesshomaru's idea naturally Inuyasha would complain, it was after all his duty as the younger sibling, not to mention a shit load of fun.

What most concerned Inuyasha was the target, beneath the numerous background sheets on Higarashi was a hidden a flash drive (which of course he hadn't noticed as it was stapled to the manila folder as if anticipating being tossed around), with a post-it note attached. Said post-it note had written on it only two words separated by a hyphen: dog-shit. Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched in annoyance; leave it to Fluffy to come up with a professional way of insulting him, without actually even being there to do it.

After popping the flash drive into his laptop Inuyasha's curiosity grew, all the files were encrypted, asking for a password to get the file list in the first place. Hating his brother's skewed sense of humor Inuyasha typed 'dog-shit' into the password box and wasn't disappointed, though several veins in near his temple throbbed in irritation, in a flash the files became legible and accessible. There were dozens of documents but one caught his eye as it was titled in all caps: READ THIS FIRST INUYASHA. He clicked on it twice; a word document popped up, a short note typed across the top:

Target is extremely sensitive handle with extreme caution; this Sesshomaru need not remind you. The following is an encoded document of extreme value, do not let it fall into unauthorized hands or I will personally remove a rather sensitive piece of your anatomy that you will sorely miss.

_Subtle Sess, very subtle,_ despite the resentment he felt at the implication his brother had made about his apparent lack of care when dealing with classified information, no matter how justified those implications may be, Inuyasha got the message loud and clear; _do not fuck this up, got it._

A second password box under the note, which Inuyasha quickly typed in the 'password' Sesshomaru had given him. Words and charts and maps on end appeared on the document. As Inuyasha scrolled down his eyes progressively widened as he read the detailed report containing every move the target had made, it went back for generations. _Some sense of humor you got Sesshy, but it makes sense it's not the first time I've gone after the Shikkon no tama, this case just got a hell of a lot more interesting._ Below the map and listings of sightings was medical report that looked vaguely familiar. Inuyasha shuffled through the paper files on Higarashi to her medical history and there it was the same report; identical expect for a line that had been blacked out on the paper copy, but was clear as day on the screen:

Unidentified object was found obstructing Higarashi Kagome's left lung, object has been removed. However it disappeared from storage shortly thereafter.

_Well I'll be damned the jewel was actually inside her. Three guesses where it is now._ Across town a young woman sneezed, rubbing absently at her chest.

XXXX


End file.
